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From France, with thanks for WWII aid

The grave of Private First Class Richard Magnon is located in Epinal American Cemetery in Dinoze, France. Frenchman Marc Corriger adopted the grave and then did some research on Magnon to find his next of kin. The Becker County Historical Society helped find his daughter in Bloomington, 70 years after Magnon died in World War II. SUBMITTED PHOTO

A man in France has helped connect a Minnesota woman to her father — 70 years later.

“A fellow in France, Marc Corriger, adopted this grave, and he came to Minnesota last summer,” said Becker County Historical Society Director Amy Degerstrom.

Though she doesn’t know the details of why Corriger was in Minnesota, she does know that he researched the grave he had adopted, which belongs to Richard E. Magnon. He was trying to track down any descendants.

He knew that Magnon was from Becker County, so Corriger sent a box filled with a letter, photos of the grave, dirt and grass from the grave, leaves from the trees by the grave and a certificate he had of his adoption of the grave to Lauri Brooke at Becker County Veterans Service.

Magnon was a Private First Class in the U.S. Army, and had died in World War II. He earned a Purple Heart. His grave is located in the Epinal American Cemetery in Dinoze, France.

Degerstrom said that Brooks only had Magnon’s service records, not a family history, so she handed the research over to the museum. Museum employee Jean Johnson researched the first thing the museum turns to — the phonebook.

She found Margaret Magnon in the phonebook, and “she had done a family history,” Degerstrom said.

The Detroit Lakes woman was able to trace back through her family history and see who Richard Magnon’s next of kin was — his daughter, Mary Lou Schneiderhan, who lives in Bloomington, Minn.

Schneiderhan, who hasn’t received the box yet, said she isn’t sure who the man is who adopted her father’s grave but she plans to write and thank him when she finds out the details.

“I thought that was awesome,” she said. “I’m anxious to see what’s in there.”

Museum employees also did as much research on Magnon as possible to add to Schneiderhan’s box of treasures regarding the father she never knew. She was born in July of 1944, and her father was killed in WWII in November of that same year.

“We found a few things here about him but not much,” Degerstrom said.

Johnson from the museum contacted Schneiderhan to let her know the museum had some information about her father.

“She’s 70 this year and was very excited,” Degerstrom said. “She was very glad to be receiving (the box).”

Last year, Schneiderhan traveled to Europe but was unable to get to see her father’s grave.

“When I was in Germany, I was on a tour and I know someone from Germany and one of her neighbors came over and had heard my father was buried in France and wanted to take me to his grave,” she said. “But I was with another person and felt I couldn’t take that time away from her. He went there and took pictures and sent them to me, which I thought was really, really nice.”

Degerstrom said that Corriger also brought dirt from Minnesota back to put on Magnon’s grave in France.

Since Magnon died so young, when his daughter was only a few months old, Schneiderhan had to learn about her father through other sources.

“I pretty much heard things from my grandmother,” she said. “He was only 19 and was killed from a sniper, I found that out from my uncle. I guess I’ve got one little picture of him in his uniform.”

She said her father liked music and she likes music, and she has his brown eyes.